Astor Piazzolla
 

The Man deserves a thread by now, so...

Astor Piazzola was a 20th century Argentinian tango composer and bandeneon virtuoso (think of a longer yet more compact accordian) who took the drab old world tango style and turned it on it's ear by composing atypical tango arrangements in an orchestral style.
His music is quite a departure of what one preconceives as being tango: vigorous, melodramatic, dance-oriented music and is instead very soulful, spiritual, almost surreal, great for those existential crisis or indulgent depressive periods.
His work has been covered by the likes of The Kronos Quartet and Yo Yo Ma, and the latter's The Soul of the Tango: The Music of Astor Piazzola is a fantastic interpretation of some of Piazzolla's more famous pieces by one of the world's greatest cell o players. And Piazzolla's own album Tango:Zero Hour is one of his best, released just 6 years before his death in 1992.

I'm gonna go look for some of this guy's material as soon as I hit the post button here, as I could really do with having this kinda stuff on while I'm doing my work. Sounds excellent by the way, and I love the variation in mood and feel between the four videos there - I clicked the top one, and thought I'd be dealing with someone who sounded something like Yann Tiersen's livelier work, but the Oblivion and Melonga del Angel ones kinda threw me off that trail.

I'll check out your recs very shortly and, providing I can find some good links, get back to you here with some thoughts on what I find.

my friend colin fisher (becoming well-known in toronto as one of its busiest improvisors... yes that was a plug) turned me onto Piazzolla about 6 or 7 years ago. the breadth of his moods and grooves are pretty f*cking breathtaking at points.

thank yous to satch for bringing this to MB.

Yeah, he's definitely not for everyone, or even every occasion, but with those damn introspective moments I go directly for him.

Just listening to Tango: Zero Hour at the moment and, suffice to say, I'm very impressed with what I'm hearing. I'm just loving the variety of moods and colours I'm hearing in this. It's also reminded me that I have a Kronos Quartet album I'm yet to listen to despite having had it for yonks now, so double thanks to this thread.

And thanks again for sending along the Yo Yo Ma album Satch - I'll probably get to it as soon as I've finished the first listen of the one I'm on at the minute...

Does it happen to be Five Tango Sensations? If so, it's amazing! If not, I'll get it to ya' expeditiously.

Pieces Of Africa as it turns out. If it's not too much trouble, I'd really appreciate the link :thumb: I'll see if I can rustle up something for my end of the bargain too...

Bumpety...

I greatly admire Piazzolla's music and Suite Punta del Este I would describe as one of my favorite orchestral works of all time.
I'm not able to find a YouTube video containing the entire suite, but it's wonderful from start to finish.